


The Phone Call

by SkipTheSoundbites



Category: Designated Survivor (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-30
Updated: 2018-05-14
Packaged: 2019-04-14 23:43:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14147214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkipTheSoundbites/pseuds/SkipTheSoundbites
Summary: "Alex called me right when you got sworn in. She said you had the loneliest job in the world."On the night of the Capitol bombing, Alex makes a call that will eventually bring two brothers back together.





	1. Alex

“Mr President, you’re going to have to come with me now. Mrs Kirkman, Secret Service will take you up to the residence.”

Just seconds after she’d held the Bible in unsteady hands and looked on as her husband took the oath of office, Alex was whisked away from him. An unfamiliar hand, belonging to a dark-suited woman, steered her down a corridor while Tom was hurried away down another. Turning to look over her shoulder, Alex watched his retreating back until his grey hoodie was swallowed by the huddle of suits which encircled him.

As the agent holding Alex’s arm continued to propel her onwards, she attempted to take in her surroundings. She had been to the White House many times before to attend various functions and on the memorable day when she had proudly held a Bible for Tom under happier circumstances as he was sworn in as HUD secretary by the vice president. However, those events had all taken place in the state rooms and the corridors she was being rushed down now were as alien to her as if she had never visited this building before. The strangers who surrounded her did nothing to negate Alex’s overwhelming sense of having been torn from the familiar and thrown into the eye of the storm. 

The clamour of action echoed around her but it was unfocussed and without purpose. It was the sound of people attempting to take action without knowing what they needed to be doing but simply needing to do something.

She sympathised with them. Alex was a woman of action and was certain that her experience of constitutional law could be useful in some capacity, if only she was permitted to help. She had asked Mike as much in the car when they were being rushed to the White House, just after he had told them of President Richmond’s death and informed Tom that he was now president, hoping to maintain some consistency in their lives, an element of familiarity, as everything else was snatched away in an instant. However, to Alex’s disappointment and not inconsiderable annoyance, Mike had turned down her request, telling her that the lawyers in the White House would be able to handle any legal obstacles which arose tonight and that her safety took priority over any contribution she could make to the legal team.

The denial of the opportunity to help, in any way she could, stung. Everyone else in the building was occupied with finding out what had happened, who had survived. They were working to create a functioning government out of the ashes of a tragedy not yet an hour old and she was about to be locked away, surrounded by armed guards in what, right now, was probably the most heavily defended building on the planet for her own safety. Logically, Alex knew that her safety had to be a priority now, America had already lost too much tonight and placing the president’s wife in any position which may present even a slight risk was not going to be an option. She knew that Tom would insist that she and their children be protected and nobody was going to deny his requests now. That didn’t stop a rush of restless energy from welling up inside her however, as she attempted to mentally prepare herself to challenge the limits now imposed on her.   

Turning down a corridor which initially seemed to be a dead end, Alex realised with a jolt that an elevator was at the far end and that she must now be nearing the private residence. Stepping through the doors as they slid open and she prepared to enter her new home, Alex’s thoughts returned to Tom and the sight of him disappearing down an unfamiliar corridor escorted by strangers. Where was he now? What decisions was he making? If she was finding it difficult to accept her new circumstances, then she could only imagine how Tom must be struggling not let himself be overwhelmed by them. Alex had faith that, while he might struggle, Tom would not be overcome by the demands which were now placed on him. He was stronger than he gave himself credit for and she hoped that he would emerge from tonight with a new found confidence.

Still, it was unbelievably difficult to process that Tom, that her _husband_ , a man who had started the day by burning his daughter’s pancakes, was now the most powerful man on Earth and even though she was certain that he was capable of shouldering the burden, it was incomprehensible to her that the nation would be looking to Tom for leadership. In that moment, Alex understood how she was going to be able to contribute tonight and in the coming months as they attempted to recover and rebuild and she felt faintly ridiculous for not having thought of it before.

The American people were not going to see her husband on the news in the morning, they would see their new president. To most people Tom would now be a symbol, possibly more so than many other presidents had been, but Alex knew the man behind that symbol and, even if his confidence in himself grew as she hoped it would, he was going to struggle. She was acutely aware that Tom would be deeply uncomfortable with the scrutiny he would now be under and equally discomforted by the expectation that he shoulder the responsibility of making decisions with potentially history-making consequences.

That was where she came in. As the country began to rebuild and Tom settled into the presidency, she was sure that she would be expected to assume the usual duties of a first lady, but right now she had a more important task. She had seen how lost he had looked in the crowd as he was led away from her after his swearing in and, with everybody looking to him for leadership, she did not anticipate that going away anytime soon. No matter how many people surrounded him the presidency was going to be the loneliest job in the world and Tom would need people that he could turn to more than ever. Without those relationships, he would become isolated and struggle to bear the weight of the world now on his shoulders. 

As the elevator doors opened once again and Alex entered the silent residence, she paused. If they were going to survive this, if _Tom_ was going to survive this then they would need to create as normal a life as possible within the walls of their new home. A life where they wouldn’t have to be the first family and where Tom would be able to be himself. To keep the isolation of their new life at bay, they would need to recreate the familiarity of their old lives as much as they could and Alex knew that the only way she could hope to achieve that would be to enlist the help of friends and family, people who had known them for years and who she was certain would not walk on eggshells around Tom. He had her and the kids of course, and she was sure that, when she arrived, Emily would not hesitate to challenge him if she thought it necessary but that just didn’t seem enough.

With an exhausted sigh, Alex pulled her phone from her pocket, sat on the sofa and began scrolling through her contacts hoping for inspiration. She would call her mother later, but first she needed to speak to someone who would be able to protect Tom from the loneliness of the presidency, who had known him at his best and his worst and as such would not be afraid his new office. As if on cue, a name seemed to leap out from her phone screen. She was certain that Tom would not be happy about it but as far as Alex was concerned, Tom was going to need all the help he could get whether he appreciated who it was coming from or not.

Making her mind up, she called the number and lifted her phone to her ear as it rang.

“Trey, it’s Alex.”     


	2. Trey

The street lights outside cast a faint glow around the room aided by the muted television on which a man and woman were carrying on a spirited, if silent, conversation. A man entered balancing a pizza box on his left hand and grabbing the remote control with his right to flick the sound back on. He fell back onto the sofa, propping his feet on the table and reaching for the beer he had set down when the doorbell rang. It had been a long day, Martin had screwed up the figures on the Dorman-Long accounts meaning that Trey had spent the afternoon reassuring his clients that their finances were being managed properly and then spent much of the evening playing catch-up with the more time sensitive tasks he had scheduled. Now Trey did not plan to think about work or anything else. He let the murmur of the presenter’s voices wash over him as he ate his pizza in silence, leaning back once he had finished and continuing to stare at the screen disinterestedly.

He didn’t know how long he had been sat there when a blaze of red flashed across the screen, jolting him from his stupor. His attention caught, Trey sat up straighter to listen as a sombre newsreader announced a suspected explosion in the vicinity of the Capitol building. Trey drew in a deep breath when the picture cut away from the studio to live shots from DC, it looked to him as though the entire dome of the Capitol had collapsed. He watched as the camera panned across the smoking rubble, his disbelief that anyone could be capable of such a crime growing with each passing second. Just when Trey thought the sight in front of him could not get any worse, the newsreader began to speak over the images of the first responders disappearing into the thick, black smoke. “The explosion, or what seems to have been an explosion, took place as President Richmond delivered his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress.”

Trey’s blood ran cold and the world seemed to stand still for a moment. If it was the State of the Union tonight, then that meant Tom had been in the building, or at least Trey thought it did. Tom was HUD secretary, he had to attend. All of the cabinet went, didn’t they?  A wave of nausea overtook Trey and he dropped his head into cold hands, willing himself not to vomit. He couldn’t believe that Tom was gone, just the thought of it seemed unreal. Even though they hadn’t had a proper conversation in years, Trey had maintained his hope that one day he would be able to reconcile with his brother but now that chance had been taken from him. He wished that he had continued to reach out after Tom had gotten tenure at Columbia, but the lack of response to his congratulatory email had convinced Trey that his brother wanted nothing more to do with him. Alex had kept him up to date on what was happening in their lives, how the kids were doing that sort of thing and there had been Christmas and birthday cards every year although he was sure that Tom had not had any part in them beyond adding his signature.

Accepting the loss of his relationship with his brother had been difficult and Trey had even considered flying to DC as a surprise for Tom’s swearing in ceremony when he had taken over at HUD though he had decided against it at the last minute. Alex had been all for it, but Trey was sure that Tom would not have felt the same and, much as he had wanted to be there, he could not bring himself to ruin what was meant to be a proud moment for his brother. Now, any chance there had been for him to reconnect with Tom was gone. Trey sank back in his chair, mentally chastising himself for not pushing harder, not forcing Tom to acknowledge his attempts at contact. Instead he had settled for the vicarious relationship he had maintained through Alex which had been something at least, but it was never enough.

“We are receiving reports that tonight’s designated survivor has been taken to the White House to be sworn in…” Morosely, Trey returned his attention to the screen as various commentators explained the role of a designated survivor. He had never heard the term before but as they explained the selection criteria, Trey felt a glimmer of hope. If one cabinet member had not been in the building, then that meant there was a chance, however small, that Tom was alive. As the discussion went on however, Trey felt that spark of hope vanish just as quickly as it had arisen. The designated survivor was there to assume the presidency and maintain the continuity of America’s government in the event of a tragedy like tonight’s. While Trey was sure that Tom would have been able to make a success of it, just as he had with everything else he had done in life, he was equally certain that his brother would not have been the man selected.

Trey was not a politician, but it seemed to him that the best choice for designated survivor would be someone who had previously been a senator or governor or held some sort of elected office before joining the cabinet, not a college professor. Moreover, Trey knew that Tom held a relatively low rank within the cabinet and he felt sure that such an important role would fall to someone with more experience, more prestige. The Secretary of State, maybe the defence secretary, but not HUD. Much as Trey wished that it was Tom being rushed into the White House right now, he had to accept that the chances of that being the case were slim.

Trey reached for his phone and unlocked it before stopping, unsure of what he should do next. He wanted to call Alex, to offer whatever comfort he could. He was certain she hadn’t been at the Capitol, she’d made no secret in her emails of how much she hated those kinds of events and he knew that Tom would never have asked her to attend unless it was absolutely necessary. His thumb hovered above her name on the screen, he didn’t know for certain if she’d even heard the news yet, though she most likely had. If she did know, then was she breaking the news to the kids right now? It would not be right to interrupt that moment, Leo and Penny needed their mother and Trey was not going steal her away from them to soothe his troubled conscience. He knew that Alex would call when she was able and until then he would just have to wait.

Anxiously tossing his phone from hand to hand, Trey turned his attention back to the television as the newsreader began to list those whose deaths had been confirmed: President Richmond, Vice President Montgomery, endless numbers of senators and representatives. He closed his eyes for moment, the enormity of the loss was overwhelming. Fighting back fresh waves of nausea, he forced himself to turn back to the screen needing to see this through to its inevitable conclusion.

Before long, Tom’s official government portrait filled the screen and Trey’s heart sank in despair. That was it, the last trace of hope had vanished, Tom was gone. Trey reached for the remote control to turn the television off, not wanting to hear his brother’s death analysed on national television, but was stopped in his tracks when the newsreader began to speak, “We can now confirm that the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Tom Kirkman has taken the Oath of Office…” Trey paused for a moment, staring at the screen in barely contained disbelief. Then, he let out a shout of joy and leapt from his seat. He froze in the middle of the room, unsure of what he should do next. Tom was alive, but he was president now. Surely, he’d have even less time for Trey now than he had before. Realistically, any reconciliation was now further away than it had been this morning.

Alex then. He’d call Alex. She would not be breaking awful news to her children, she would welcome Trey’s call as she always did. Except… if Tom was president, that meant that Alex was the first lady and must have been taken to the White House along with the children. They would be heavily guarded right now and attempting to comprehend the enormity of the change their lives had undergone in a single night. No, the children would still need their mother tonight. Instead, Trey resolved to call her in the morning and, feeling happier than he perhaps should tonight, turned off the television.

As the screen faded to black, Trey’s phone buzzed on the table where he had tossed it in his excitement. He picked it up, looking to see who was calling and immediately his heart grow lighter. He swiped his finger across the screen and grinned as Alex’s voice greeted him, but at that moment, Trey had only one person on his mind.

“How’s Tom?”  


	3. The Call

“Trey, it’s Alex.”    

“How’s Tom?”

Alex allowed herself a smile at Trey’s question. No matter the distance between him and Tom, both brothers were always concerned about the other’s wellbeing and it irritated her no end that they seemed incapable of communicating that directly to each other. Every time they met always seemed to end either with one of them storming out or the whole thing descending into frosty silence and Alex inevitably acting as mediator between the two to maintain an uneasy truce. She was grateful though that, no matter what words they hurled at each other in anger, their affection for one another never seemed to diminish, even if they would rather lose an arm than admit it. She sighed uneasily before answering Trey’s question, “Honestly? I’m not sure.” A sharp intake of breath alerted her that, given the circumstances, she had chosen her words poorly and hurriedly she added, “He’s alright! He’s alive I mean and physically he’s fine, but I haven’t really spoken to him. Only in the car. I haven’t even seen him since he was sworn in.” As briefly as she was able, Alex recounted the story of what had happened that evening starting with the sudden loss of their feed from the State of the Union and the fireball rising from the Capitol building. She described how the Secret Service had hurried her and Tom into a waiting car and the motorcade’s subsequent rush to the White House, sweeping through the eerie red glow of the flares which had lined their route. Finally, she arrived at the moment which she had been replaying over and over in her mind ever since she had been separated from Tom and escorted to the residence. She paused.

As Alex’s silence drew out, Trey searched for a way to prompt her to continue. He didn’t want to be insensitive and he knew she would be experiencing a level of emotional turmoil well beyond his own but he needed to know what was happening to Tom. He was inexpressibly gratefully that his brother was alive, however the uncertainty of Tom’s new situation was not lost on Trey. It wasn’t just Tom’s abrupt elevation to the presidency that concerned Trey; it was the expectation that he take the job on in the midst of tragedy, without a cabinet, a congress or any meaningful government as a support network. Unable to find the words to express his swirling thoughts, Trey instead settled for, “And?” grimacing inwardly at his inability to articulate himself.

Alex let out a soft breath as though she was able to deduce Trey’s concerns from that single word. “And then he was sworn in.” she answered. She closed her eyes, picturing Tom placing his hand on the Bible she had clutched in shaking hands and his nervous glances at the crowd of dazed junior staffers who had gathered to watch the hastily conducted ceremony. “It was surreal, Trey. You see the inaugurations on TV and apart from the actual oath it’s all just show: thousands of people, the music, the flags, the…” she stopped abruptly, her voice catching in her throat.

“The Capitol.” Trey finished for her. He leaned back in his chair, rubbing his eyes in an attempt to banish the television’s images of burning rubble which seemed to swim before him, “I guess this was a little different.”

Alex allowed herself a wry smile, “Yeah, a little. He was sworn in in a corridor.”

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Trey couldn’t help but laugh at that. Only Tom could assume the highest office in the land and be sworn in in a corridor. Admittedly this one was in the White House, but still as far as Trey could imagine they were much the same as any other corridor just with fancier pictures. “A corridor?” he repeated, disbelief clear in his voice.

Alex was grateful that Trey was able to find some humour despite the gravity of the situation they now found themselves in. That was one of the reasons she had decided to call him tonight. As much as she loved Tom, Alex knew that he could be too earnest for his own good at times and she was certain that having the weight of the world unceremoniously deposited on his shoulders was going to do nothing to curb that tendency. Hopefully, if she could persuade him to come to Washington, Trey’s presence might encourage Tom to break that serious persona she was sure he was currently attempting (and probably failing) to project. She steeled herself for the next part of the conversation.

“Look, Trey. I didn’t just call to let you know that Tom’s alright.” Alex paused, wondering how best to continue. “After he’d taken the oath, they took him away. Literally, just hurried him down a hallway and that was it. He was gone. I haven’t seen him since.” Alex hated the fact that she hadn’t even been able to speak to Tom before he left. She wished desperately that there had been time to give him a kiss, a hug, anything to take away the terror which had haunted his eyes.

Trey hummed in understanding, “He’s got a lot going on now. I guess he’s going to have even less time for his family.” He waited for Alex to confirm his suspicions that he was being let down gently, that this was her way of telling him that any chance of reconciliation between him and Tom was gone. After all, no president wanted their screw up brother hanging around the White House, especially not when the entire country was in chaos. When there was no answer, Trey added, “For you and the kids, I mean. He’ll need you guys though, when there’s time. You’ll keep his feet on the ground, that sort of thing.” He hoped Alex couldn’t hear his disappointment at her subtle rebuff in his voice but he was sure she could. She could read him better than anyone else he knew. Her reaction, therefore came as a shock. She laughed loudly, though the slightly shrill edge to her usually warm tone belied the stress she was under.

“Of course he’s going to need his family but it’s got to be all of us.” she said once her laughter subsided. When no reply came, Alex switched tack, Tom and his brother were more alike that either would care to admit and she’d had plenty of experience handling this peculiar brand of short-sightedness where one another were concerned. If Trey was going to be dense then she’d just have to be blunt, “He needs you, Trey. More than he ever has.” A prolonged silence greeted her words and she dropped her head into her free hand, frustration welling up inside her. Abandoning any remaining pretence of sensitivity, Alex threw all caution to the wind, “I want you to fly down to DC and stay with us for a couple of weeks, maybe longer. Tom needs people who know him. I mean really know him, good and bad. I don’t know what this job’s going to do to him but I do know that it’s not healthy to be the most powerful man in the world and to have people walking on eggshells around you.” She spoke in a rush, the words tumbling from her mouth unplanned.

“I’m not…”

“You’re not sure?” Alex interjected before Trey could finish his sentence, “I am. He needs people who aren’t afraid of him or his office. He’s going to need people who’ll stand up to him, call him out if they have to.” She knew that Trey could be that person, but convincing him of it was a harder job than she’d imagined and probably than she had time for. “Look, just come to DC. We can work out the rest when you’re here.”

Looking around the room for an excuse not to face Tom’s displeasure at seeing him, Trey’s eyes landed on the files he’d abandoned on the coffee table when he’d come home. “I can’t,” he said, “I’ve got work. We’re really snowed under at the moment. I can’t just blow it of for a month. What would I say?”

Alex groaned impatiently, “Tell them the First Lady asked you. Tell them the President of the United States needs you. Hell, tell them the country needs you.” She waited for Trey’s reply, allowing the silence to drag out, hoping against hope that he might agree just out of sheer awkwardness. When no reply came however, she sighed in defeat.

Hearing Alex’s disappointment, Trey hung his head. “I’m sorry, I just can’t.” he said beseechingly, “Tom doesn’t want me there, not right now. I’ll probably do more harm than good if I turn up unannounced.” He silently begged Alex to understand and not push the matter any further. Trey didn’t think that he could face Tom’s inevitable displeasure at seeing him. It would be better for everyone if he kept his distance, that was how he could help right now, by not angering an already vulnerable president.

Realising that she’d lost the battle, Alex prepared to hang up the phone before one last flash of inspiration came to her. The image of Tom being rushed away from her, surrounded by a phalanx of Secret Service, forced its way to the front of her mind once more. It was the hopelessness that that sight had engendered which had led to her calling Trey in the first place, maybe it would persuade him that he was needed now.  “When they took him wherever it was they went,“ she began, “he had all these people around him but not one of them was talking to him.” Alex stopped, unsure that she was making herself clear. She took a shaky breath before continuing, “He wasn’t a person to them, he was the president.” Still, Trey was silent so Alex pressed on, “He’s got the loneliest job in the world and he’s not going to be able to do it alone. He needs you, Trey. He might not admit it but he does.”

Trey coughed self-consciously, attempting to clear the lump which had risen in his throat. He opened his mouth to speak but no words were forthcoming. At the other end of the line, he heard Alex click her tongue as though deep in thought. Though whatever she was thinking remained unvoiced. Instead she wished Trey goodnight, disappointment evident in her voice, and hung up.

Swiping his hand across tired eyes, Trey tried to clear the fog which seemed to have consumed his thoughts. He knew that Alex had the best of intentions but he felt certain that her concern for Tom was clouding her judgement in this instance. He rose from the sofa and headed towards the bedroom. He was sure that sleep would not be forthcoming tonight but could think of nothing else that he could do right now. As he pushed the door open, Trey’s phone vibrated against his palm and he glanced down, smiling ruefully as he read the message on the screen.

‘Think about it. Please.’


End file.
